CAR Central African Republic: Fragile, failed and forlorn

[AdamG]

Minusca, the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country, sent peacekeepers to the site of the clashes, spokesperson Vladimir Monteiro told AFP. Its troops there had come under fire a day earlier, he added.

On Wednesday, the General Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces said that paratroopers had deployed to Bambari, using its General Dynamics Pandur II wheeled armored vehicles for the first time in Africa.

On Thursday, the Portuguese “blue helmets spent five hours in direct combat” with UPC militants “with the objective of protecting civilians and restoring peace, interposing itself between the opposition group and the defenseless civilian population,” the General Staff said.

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/01/1...rican-republic

[davidbfpo]

Eleanor Beevor, an IISS analyst, has a commentary which opens with:

The latest attempts by the government of the Central African Republic to reach an accommodation with armed groups are a disheartening repetition of a failed formula. The price of this limited calm will be high, warns Eleanor Beevor.

Link:https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/...c-armed-groups